VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Latin Bridge over the Miljacka, Sarajevo
SarajevoThe Latin Bridge over the Miljacka

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sarajevo by Tumi-1983, CC0.

Cartagena or Sarajevo?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Cartagena’s own page.

Choose Sarajevo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarajevo’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Cartagena 70, Sarajevo 6: Cartagena leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Sarajevo 60: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Sarajevo 64: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Sarajevo 44: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Sarajevo 78: Sarajevo leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Sarajevo 62: Sarajevo leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Sarajevo 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Sarajevo 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Sarajevo 80: Sarajevo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Sarajevo are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Sarajevo 42: Sarajevo leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Sarajevo.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Sarajevo
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Sarajevo in July

28 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSarajevo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Sarajevo: 1991-2020 normals, Sarajevo-Bejelave (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSarajevo
Official languageSpanishCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Convertible Mark (BAM)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m518 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)7 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSarajevo
City population914,552275,524
People per km²1,5991,947
Museums within 10 km225
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Sarajevo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.